From now until New Year’s Eve, I’ll be counting down my top 100 songs of the year as I’ve been tabulating over the past few weeks. Every week, I make a top 40 list, and each position gets a certain amount of points, plus, I add in some extra points for weeks at #1, which goes towards their yearly total. The survey period is from December 4, 2011 to November 25, 2012. 177 songs ranked in the top 40 at some point this year, an increase of eleven from last year, which means that the pace picked up a little bit. Ties are broken by (1) peak position, then (2) weeks at peak position, and then (3) number of weeks on chart should it go that far. Everything from the top of the pops is in here: boy bands, bubblegum, country, dance, rock, and all the surprise hits and major under-performers in-between. Of course, I’ll be commenting on them as well, but I’m saving the good stuff until we get towards the top tier of the top 100. Let’s start the countdown!

100. Martin Solveig – The Night Out (138 points) (PEAK: #22)
Second top-40 hit on my chart for this French DJ, the first of which earned him a main credit without him singing a note. That was “Hello”, which featured vocals by Canadian band Dragonette; it peaked at #9 for two weeks last year.

099. Green Day – Oh Love (142 points) (PEAK: #22)
2012 was an eventful one for the band which saw their lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, go to rehab after a tantrum seen around the world at the iHeartRadio Music Festival. This was the band’s only charting single from the era.

098. Big Time Rush – Windows Down (143 points) (PEAK: #21)
Originally recorded as a demo by Ke$ha, this became the boy band’s biggest hit on my survey to date. It samples “Song 2” by Blur.

097. Neon Trees – Lessons In Love (All Day, All Night) (151 points) (PEAK: #18)
This Utah-based band just missed the top 100 with “Everybody Talks” (#101), a song that became their second big mainstream hit. “Lessons” peaked at #17 a week after the 2012 chart year ended. It also shares its main title with a #12 Hot 100 hit for Level 42 back in 1987.

096. Matt Cardle – Amazing (156 points) (PEAK: #21)
Final single from Cardle’s debut album Letters. It was the highest charting release from it.

095. Pink – Try (161 points) (PEAK: #7)
This was #7 at the close of the chart year in November, but has since gone onto make the top 3. Four of her songs have spent time at the top of my top 40. Nelly Furtado also appeared in the top ten with a separate song also called “Try” in 2004.

094. Bridgit Mendler – Ready Or Not (162 points) (PEAK: #21)
Mendler is the latest Disney kid to make my personal chart. This one also became a minor hit on the CHR survey; the first Disney-related act to make it there was quintet The Party, who made the top 20 in early 1992 with “In My Dreams”.

093. Taylor Swift – Eyes Open [from “The Hunger Games”] (162 points) (PEAK: #21)
First of a handful of songs written for motion pictures in the top 100 this year. The rest will be coming in a few posts’ time.

092. Jon McLaughlin featuring Sara Bareilles – Summer Is Over (164 points) (PEAK: #23)
Lowest peaking song in the top 100 of the year; it spent two weeks at #23. It was the third charting hit for McLaughlin and the seventh for Bareilles. It peaked during the Spring, a good enough reason for it to chart so low.

091. Lady Antebellum – We Owned The Night (165 points) (PEAK: #5)
This hit #5 back in November of 2011. The group has one other song in the top 100 of the year.

090. Javier Colon featuring Natasha Bedingfield – As Long As We Got Love (167 points) (PEAK: #20)
Colon made my New & Active between August and October 2003 with his major-label debut single, “Crazy”. (He was just credited as Javier back then.) Bedingfield has one more song to come.

089. Zedd featuring Matthew Koma – Spectrum (168 points) (PEAK: #19)
First charting single for the Russian-born and German-raised DJ and the New York-born singer. Koma’s current girlfriend, Carly Rae Jepsen, will be charting much later on with two entries.

088. David Cook – Fade Into Me (171 points) (PEAK: #15)
Last single for the American Idol winner before he was dropped by RCA Records. Of his five charting singles, this was the lowest ranking in terms of weekly peak.

087. Matt Cardle – It’s Only Love (173 points) (PEAK: #20)
This is Cardle’s highest of two songs on the year-end survey. “Anyone Else”, his current single, should be a safe bet to make the top 100 next year.

086. Jason Mraz – 93 Million Miles (173 points) (PEAK: #10)
This was at #10 at the close of the chart year in November. It has since risen to #7. Mraz has one more song to go in the top 100.

Join me back here tomorrow as I reveal #85 through #71. What’s coming up, you ask? How about a glam fam, pom-poms and shopping carts? Intrigued? Stay tuned…